


Lands of Connections, New and Old

by Leafy89



Category: Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: Character Study, POV Multiple, POV Second Person, SBURB/SGRUB (Homestuck)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21538060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leafy89/pseuds/Leafy89
Summary: Our favorite friends have been transported into the Medium of a game they had no idea they were playing. Divided by aspect on separate planets, our heroes get to know each other under new and treacherous circumstances.An brief exploration of Hiveswap Friendsim characters, and how their aspect drives their motivations and relationships.(Previously Land of Metronomes and Molasses and Thyme)
Relationships: Folykl Darane/Marsti Houtek, Tagora Gorjek/Galekh Xigisi, Tyzias Entykk/Stelsa Sezyat
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	1. Land of Metronomes and Molasses and Thyme

When you come to, the first thing that you notice is the way your ears are bombarded by continuous, consistent ticking. It’s darn loud. You open your bronze eyes to be greeted with the source of the noise -- huge, tower-sized obelisks with steadily swinging pendulums, each keeping a completely different time from the next. It’s mighty irritating, you admit. 

It’s then that you register the fact that you are not alone on this strange land, there are two other trolls nearby. They both seem to be groggily waking up, and they both seem to be male highbloods.

“Well howdyy fellas! Don’t reckon yy’all know what in tarnation is going on here? Name’s Skylla byy the wayy!” You decide to be the first to extend the metaphorical olive branch. Not exactly much else to do at the moment.

“sup im marvus haha” the broad-shouldered purpleblood introduces himself. At this, the third troll - a cerulean - is shaken out of his own stupor to fix his gaze on Marvus. He stares in something like awe. You wonder if they know eachother? “lmao i got no fuckin clu wats goin on”

“How bout yyou, pardner?” you direct at the blueblood. He snaps himself out of it and turns to you, a chill demeanor exuding off of him. 

“oh yea; my name = mallek; i uh, honestly don’t remember how i got here;”

You’re relieved to see that your two companions don’t seem immediately disagreeable. Dealing with haughty highbloods can be quite a chore, but so long as they’ve done you no wrong, you see no reason to judge folks on their colors.The three of you start hauling yourselves to your feet. 

“dam i cant remember nuthin either. shiz fucked up yo” Marvus supplies his take on the situation, but he doesn’t seem too torn up about it. He maintains a lazy grin across his face.

You stretch your arms out above your head (behind the horns) and get a better look at your surroundings, hands on your hips. The sky is dark, as usual, but it’s devoid of the pink and green moons that accompany the Alternian night. Well. That’s a smidge concerning.

“I reckon we might not be on Alternia anyymore…” you ponder aloud. Marvus and Mallek follow your gaze upward. Marvus’ grin turns a bit more lopsided in what may be nerves, and Mallek’s eyes widen. Following his initial realization, you think you might also see a glimmer of excitement in those blue irises.

“fuck; what do you think we should do guys;” He looks back at you two. You notice his foot is tapping absently along with the beat of the nearest metronome.

Marvus takes out his palmhusk. Huh, you completely forgot about the wonders of modern technology. You don’t spend a lot of time indulging in the social medias and the like, what with so much to be done on the farm. But you do own your own modest palmhusk to keep in touch with the outside world. You take yours out and start fiddling with it as well.

“dont bother; i already tried; no signal;” Mallek informs you. You hadn’t even noticed, but he had been checking his husk every so often in a way that blended into his natural movements.

“yo this iz wack fam” Again, Marvus doesn’t seem too worried. He laughs half-heartedly.

“Well fellas, it seems like there’s no choice but to get moving if we want to figure out where in the sam hell we’ve been dumped. I reckon we can just follow this here handyy path till we find some kinda shelter.” You suggest, looking down at the beige stone road that the three of you are currently standing in the middle of. Along the sides of the road are two gutters of slow-moving dark sludge. It has a strong, strange smell. Beyond the gutters, peppered between giant ticking towers, is a blanket of herb-like grass. Or… grass-like herbs? You think that Ladyy would love chewing on it. You start to panic internally as you realize that you have no idea where your lusus is, is she okay, what if she’s-

Nope.

Not thinking about that now. No use freaking out over something when you don’t even know the whole situation yet.

“bruh i kno watchu mean bout the path but lik, which way shud we go? one wrong choice in da path a life and iz all over uhearme lol” You both just stare at Marvus for a second.

Mallek chuckles.

______

“that = some deep shit buddy;” You shove your hands in your pockets and start walking down the path in a random direction. “im just gonna start moving; you two can follow if you want; or not, it = whatever;” you say. You don’t mean for it to sound cold, that’s just your honest opinion. To your moderate surprise, they both quickly catch up and start striding on either side of you, no hesitation in their eyes.

Huh. These guys aren’t half bad. You suppose, if you have to be stranded on an alien planet, you could have worse company.

A few minutes into your stroll, you find yourself walking to the beat of whatever the dominant tempo nearby is. You don’t even notice that you’ve been absently beatboxing from time to time until Marvus starts offering little “yea”s and grunts typical of his rap style.

Ah, yes. Marvus. You admit, you were a bit startstruck when you woke up on the ground next to Alternia’s Most Wanted Clown. You’re not a die-hard fan or anything, but you’ve seen some of his work on the net, and you were quite impressed. He is a very charismatic guy, and his messages are real and resonate with you pretty well.

Your lips quirk up, and you glance at the purpleblood out of the corner of your eye and continue lightly beatboxing. As you move from one metronome to the next, you smoothly transition between different styles of beats, Marvus also adapting to the new patterns. Skylla watches the two of you, seeming curious and maybe a bit impressed. She faces forward and starts whistling some improvised tunes to the beat, and soon the three of you are performing a bizarre trio work of art the likes of which you’ve never heard before.

You have no idea if it sounds any good; the instrumentation, if it can be called that, is fairly unorthodox for any genre that you know of, but you don’t care. You’re having fun.

Eventually, you come across a beat that is much too fast to walk to, and while you could probably shift your beat while walking in half-time, you try to walk to the quick beat out of habit and find yourself stumbling. You catch yourself before you can trip over your own feet, but your beatboxing sputters out of time. Your companions stop their own lilting as well, and they turn to look at you before bursting out laughing. 

You join in, giggling over the ridiculous song you’d been creating up until this point. And though the moment seems lost now, you’re taken aback by how easily you had warmed up to these two, and vice-versa. It’s nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I was gonna add a Marvus POV too, but as of now, I have no idea how to write Marvus. What even goes on in that guy's head. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! Possibly more on the way :3


	2. Land of Sculptures and Frogs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We met with our Time players previously, now get ready for Space!

As you open your eyes, you feel the immediately unpleasant sensation of cold, hard flooring pressed against your face and extremities. You grimace and quickly lift yourself off the marble ground, disgusted with yourself that you could have possibly conked out on the floor in the first place, though you have no recollection of such an event. 

The next thing you notice is that you are not alone. As a troll girl grumbles and rises from her own spot on the ground, you freeze up upon realizing that you know her identity. A cerulean, and a famous one no less. Remele Namaaq. Oh no. Well this is gonna be awkward. The last time you had the pleasure of corresponding with Miss Namaaq, you had sent her charges for copyright infringement. And now she’s here. In front of you for some reason.

And she has now witnessed you in an unprofessional, compromising state, passed out on the ground, shit do you even have your makeup on? Moisturizer??? How could you have been so careless, let down your guard, let the enemy see you in such a state, holy fuck, jegus, no no no-

“Well, well, welle. If it isn’t the Great Legislacerateur Tagora Gorjek.”

You snap on your business face in the blink of an eye. You sneer a bit at her remark, not even needing to see her exasperated, overly dramatic body language to tell that her words are insincere.

“Madame Namaaq, what a pleasant surprise.” At least you have the trait of being a liar in common. A surprise, yes. Pleasant? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Although you, for one, don’t really care if she can perceive your distaste towards her. She’s no idiot, your mutually antagonistic relationship has long since been established. Not like that though! This is strictly business animosity we’re talking about.

Remele’s lips twist in vague irritation. “A surprise, you say? So it was not you who arranged this little-” She flutters her hand in the air, “-rendez-vous?”

You clear your throat. “Yes, that would be correct. And since it seems this is not your doing either, it would appear that we are in the same boat, so to speak. Now, I know that we have a… rocky, history between us, but I suggest that we call a temporary truce while we take stock of the situation. *_______ ” You begrudgingly offer a stiff hand to solidify the agreement. As much as you hate to admit, you are entirely out of your depth in this situation, and the fact that your only company is Remele Namaaq is equal parts reassuring and agonizing. You may or may not be starting to freak out on the inside. You would never let it show on your face, though. That is one emotion that you never want anyone to see.

\-------  
Gorjek has extended a hand in your direction. You take it casually, your own business smile on your face. It isn’t entirely ingenuine, though. Contrary to how your working relationship may seem, you bear no particular ill will towards the tealblood. 

“But of course. The one who startede this lawsuit stuff was not me after all.” This is your best attempt to convey the sentiment. Tagora Gorjek has never actually been someone at whom you direct your loathing. He’s a pest, sure, but some part of you acknowledges and respects his cunning and intellect.

As you both release your brief hold on the other’s hand, you begin to examine your surroundings. Giant, marble statues and pillars tower above. Below, a floor of the same marble. There’s something particular about the statues as they all seem to be depicting… frogs? There are statues of frogs in dramatic poses surrounding the two of you. Well then.

Gorjek has also begun his own survey of the area beside you. A look at him shows a nod of appreciation and a small smile on his lips. 

“Well, of all the strange places to be lost in, at least this one has class.”

You sigh. “Whatever you saye. I, for one, find it to be a bit drab.” Your art has so much more character than this. For one thing, it usually has more variety in color than the uniform marble patterning laid out before you currently. It usually includes more than one type of subject matter as well.

Gorjek huffs quietly, crossing his arms. “Well, not all of us can be artists *____ “ It’s kind of adorable how pathetic he looks when he’s jealous. You smirk.

As you continue your investigation, you both begin to stroll slowly in no particular direction, a healthy distance maintained between you. You grow bored of perusing the bland architecture, so you lift your gaze upwards. You stop in your tracks, smile faded a bit and your eyebrows raised slightly.

“Gorjek.” You address your companion. When he turns in your direction, you simply point up. It takes a moment before his eyes also widen in understanding. Above is a dark sky. A familiar sight for any Alternian. But the lack of pink and green moons, along with seemingly any other stars that you would recognize from your system, betrays the fact that this strange land is far from the world you call home. That, or some kind of illusion. You haven’t ruled out the idea that this is all one big dream.

However, the sky seems to be enough evidence to convince Tagora, if his look of panic is anything to go by. The poor legislacerator seems to always be under the impression that he puts up a foolproof facade. But you are no such fool. His reactions are understandable, and you don’t necessarily think any less of him for it.

He seems frozen in place for a spell, his muscles stiff and beginning to tremble as his eyes search the sky desperately. You sigh loud enough for him to hear. He snaps out of it enough to bring his gaze back to your plane, still looking significantly frazzled.

“We’re not going to accomplishe anything just standing around here, Monsieur Gorjek”

He swallows and takes a second to find his voice. “Then where do you suggest we go, Miss Namaaq?” He makes a decent effort to sound authoritative.

You point to a large structure in the distance, taller than the rest of the surrounding pillars, with a large triangular roof affixed atop it. “This structure stands out enough to me to warrant a visit. Shalle we?”

You sweep out a hand in an “after you” gesture. Gorjek huffs and proceeds in the recommended direction with a stubborn set to his jaw. At least he seems to be preoccupied enough to suspend his immediate panic. You smile and follow behind, and the two of you set off on your quest for answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Land of Tofu and Bubbles and Darkness

When you come into consciousness, you’re lying on a soft, squishy surface. You squint around your voidrotten eye-sockets and begin to pull your ever-aching body up to your hands and knees.

As you get your bearings, an unfamiliar voice breaks through the silence: “Nani??? What kind of isekai have I been /aunched into now?!” followed by the sound of sharp metal being unsheathed and flung wildly, though nowhere in your vicinity, thankfully.

And then, a familiar voice: “Ugh, the fuck is this bullshit? -_-” You can hear the grimace in her voice.  
“you youre the cleaning chick” you wheeze out in recognition. For once in your goddamn life, you actually feel only slight discomfort around someone, rather than absolute loathing. It’s refreshing.

You hear a squelching sound from the ground below as the lowblood girl turns in your direction. A slight inhale and, “The goldblood girl from the junkyard -_-”

The two of you are broken out of your brief stupor by the more irritating of the two voices. “And who are you suspicious fiends?”

“shut up dweeb”

“Agreed. -_-”

The female’s voice is directed back in your direction: “Do you know how we got here? And… where is your psionic partner? -_-” Indistinct sputtering from Mr. Obnoxious plays out behind her words, but the message strikes you deep and hard.

You don’t know.

It’s not like you and Kuprum have never been apart before, but those times, you always knew where he was and that he would return soon enough. It hits you suddenly that you have no memory of blacking out and, if Kuprum isn’t among the current party nearby, then he could be on a whole other fucking planet for all you know.

No.

No no no. Nononononono.

You curl in around yourself to drown out the reality around you. You’re vaguely aware of your whole body body trembling as you try to meld with the scentless ground below.  
\-------

The goldblood before you starts to draw herself into a ball. You realize she’s probably just now realized the gravity of the situation and has gone into a panic. And she has every right to, it must be terrifying for a troll with voidrot to be suddenly ripped away from their primary source of life energy. 

You carefully approach the panicked girl and crouch down, placing a warm hand gently on her upper arm, but otherwise unsure what to do. If you told her everything would be okay, that would be a lie, you couldn’t possibly know either way. Sometimes life is unfair and just sucks, but you hate to see someone so helpless over something that was in no way their fault.

“W-woah, this go/db/ood has voidrot? It’s a mirac/e she’s survived this many sweeps, A/though… this is just /ike when Haruka-chan had a panic attack during her first visit to the big city…” The teal continues to be useless in this situation, it seems. He begins mansplaining some dumb anime to absolutely nobody as you focus your attention back on the girl.

You jostle her softly. “Hey. Come back to me, hey. -_-” You run your hands as much as you can through her matted, knotted hair over and over until she begins to lift her head. “Sorry about this. -_-” you mumble as you cup her face in your calloused palms.

The holes of her eyes widen a bit, and you feel a slight tinge of red in your cheeks as you lean down and press your lips against hers. You begin to channel your energy into her, ignoring the gawking from your unwanted spectator. “Aiding voidrotten tro//s is high/y i//ega/! I-I should have you cu//ed for this!” He doesn’t sound like a real threat, in your opinion. 

You roll your eyes behind your eyelids and you slowly pull back from the goldblood’s face. She looks a bit bewildered, frozen in place, but at least she seems more alert and healthy than mere moments ago. And the stain of yellow peeking out from beneath gray skin -- damn if that isn’t cute.

Your hands still on either side of her face, you stare into the void in place of her eyes and declare, “We’re going to work through this. -_-”

“what why are you helping me”

“Fuck if I know, but I’m not very keen on letting one of my only companions on this fucking… land of shitty white cubes die right before my eyes. Especially one so lovely. -_-”  
\----------

The rustblood, after some arguing and half-hearted wrestling, has managed to maneuver the goldblood onto her back as we begin our trek onward. There seems to be some kind of building up on a hill of cubes in the distance, so the rustblood- Marsti, as she introduced herself- proposed that you head there first on your quest for answers. You would have suggested the same plan yourself, had you not been distracted by the pair’s blatant disrespect for Alternian social order.

You admit, it may have been a wise decision to keep as many possible allies alive while you try to get your bearings in this mysterious, foreign land. It’s for that reason, and that reason alone, that you decided to overlook their crimes for the moment to cooperate towards a common goal. However… seeing the pity in Marsti’s eyes stirs up familiar emotions. A bit of your tragic, dark past that no one else can understand. Truly, it’s hard being an ally of justice; it’s hard and no one understands. And the vulnerable silhouette of Folykl is a bit too similar to your… acquaintance, Polypa, for comfort.

But in the end, you know it is your duty to see them all culled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although this story is not ship-oriented, there will be some hints of relationships as it suits my bias. Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Land of Steak and Iron and Knots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blood players my dude.

You groan as you roll over on… the couch? You think it’s the couch, it certainly doesn’t feel like any recuperacoon. The taste of iron invades your senses before you even register your own consciousness. You wrinkle your face and slowly begin to sit up, clutching at your messy hair. When you finally squint your eyes open, you start to realize that you are not, in fact, on the couch of your matesprit’s hive. You actually don’t know where you are, but you know that you are definitely lying on the ground.

“wwwwhat…?” You grumble, squinting and blinking your eyes as you slump up a bit from your lying position.

“ZIZI IS THAT YOU OH THANK GOD WHAT ON ALTERNIA IS GOING ON” You perk up more at the sound of your matesprit’s voice. Oh thank god. You don’t know what you would’ve done without her in this peculiar situation.

You turn to look at her. She seems to have also been resting on the ground moments ago, though now she is sitting upright, back straight and moving to stand up properly. She stands up for all of two seconds before crouching down in front of you, her hands finding your face as she stares intently into your gander bulbs.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT ZIZI YOU ARENT HURT ARE YOU HOW DID WE EVEN GET HERE” 

You cut off her concerned rambling with a small “immmm fine” and take her hand in yours instinctively. From nearby you hear another voice, deep and articulate.

“Hello, ladies. I presume that I am correcting in my recognition of you two as Gorjek’s associates. (1. One Tyzias Entykk and, presumably, her matesprit.) I must confess that I am not entirely sure what to make of the situation at hand and would appreciate some insight right about now. Forgive me if I am not one for pleasantries at the moment, seeing as there is no real protocol for awaking in a foreign land with two distant acquaintances. (2. I do not mean this as an insult; it is simply the truth of the nature of our current relationship.)”

By now, you and Stelsa have both shifted to see your wordy companion. It does not take you long to recognize the identity of the indigo as one Galekh Xigisi, kismesis of Tagora “sore gor” Gorjek and windbag extraordinaire. You don’t really have much reaction to the guy. Despite not having met him in person, it hasn’t been too hard to deduce his general character through Tagora’s frequent complaints and the occasional selfie on social media. He’s never struck you as a bad guy, just a little stuffy and condescending at times.

Also, did you mention he’s wordy as all hell? Interaction with him, especially in this situation, is sure to be a pain in the ass. You’re preemptively dreading it a little.

“WELL IF IT WASNT CLEAR ALREADY WE DONT KNOW ANY MORE THAN YOU DO SO I THINK WE SHOULD GET A MOVE ON TO FIGURE THIS OUT I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT AT FIVE OH GOODNESS I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS NOW” Your matesprit is the quickest to respond because of course she is. You squeeze her hand in yours a bit and put a hand on her shoulder, in a manner that may come across a tad too pale, as you make to stand up. She looks at you and smiles slightly before turning back to Galekh. “AND MY NAME IS STELSA SEZYAT JUST FYI PLEASURE TO MEET YOU”

“Very well, then.” Galekh responds, uncharacteristically curt. He crosses his arms and looks around, his face scrunching up. “Honestly though, I don’t see why we have to be surrounded by slabs of animal flesh like we’ve just wandered into a meat locker. (1. Though, at least we know there will be no shortage of food. ((1. Assuming this is safe to eat, that is.)))” 

You look around to see what he’s referring to. The ground around you is made of red clay, and on top of it rests anvils of iron at varying intervals, along with slabs of raw steak strewn about both on top of the metal or directly on the floor. You realize these must have been the source of the pungent smell of iron from earlier. You... hope you don’t have to eat the ones on the ground. There is also a tangle of ropes tied in knots that connect the anvils, creating a web of rope a few inches above the ground.

“wwwwhat the fuck even?” you groan just as Stelsa also scrunches up her own face.

“WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE THE MEANING OF THIS THIS PLACE IS ABSOLUTELY FILTHY AND DISORGANIZED I NEED TO FIND THE NEAREST CITY OR SOMETHING” She seems ready to storm off, but her brisk walk is hindered by the need to step carefully so as not to trip on any rope. 

You make no move to follow her yet. You squint around at the distance, hills of red for miles blending into the tint of the deep red sky at the horizon. Your shoulders sag a bit more than they always already do. “that mmmmight be difficult. no sign of anything resemmmmbling civilization for mmmmiles….” You need a drink. You look back down at the ground, searching. You find what you were looking for and pick it up as swiftly as you can without straining your back. Luckily, your signature white mug has managed to tag along on this unwitting voyage. It’s empty, predictably, since any contents it may have had at some point were likely spilled out onto the ground as you lay passed out for who knows how long. You still find comfort in having it safely in your grasp, and you cradle it close to your body with both hands. 

By this point, Galekh has taken out his palmhusk and seems to have grown increasingly frustrated by his findings, though not for lack of effort.

____

This makes absolutely no sense. Your palmhusk refuses to acknowledge any nearby signal no matter how you fiddle with the settings or attempt the good old “turn it off and on again” trick. Even if you were somehow transported into the most barren of lands in Alternia, there should still be something. You pay good money for the best cell service there is, and it’s frankly insulting that you’ve been let down like this. 

Of course, there is one explanation that you suppose could clear up some liability on the providers’ part. You’re no idiot. However, it is much too preposterous a notion to even consider at the time being. You inform your companions of your findings.

“I have no cell signal, no wifi, no means of contact with the outside world. I am also quickly running out of charge on my husk, so we need to figure this all out as soon as possible or we’re in serious trouble. Regardless if this is all one elaborate prank or something bigger, there seems to be a real threat of us being lost out here.” 

Tyzias stands and stretches half-heartedly. “yeah this isn’t mmmmy idea of a vacation either. so? wwwwhat do you propose wwwwe do?” She glances at her matesprit vacantly.

You ponder your response for a brief second. “I suppose the most obvious solution is to begin walking until we find some kind of civilization or, at the very least, some resources. Now, the question becomes which direction to head in? While it might be more efficient to split up and cover more ground, that also leaves us vulnerable to attack or getting lost further and being unable to regroup. (1. I imagine it also wouldn’t be great for morale) ((1. Especially between quadrantmates such as yourselves))”

Tyzias glares at you, mug no doubt covering a scowl. Stelsa, on the other hand, finally rejoins the conversation from where she had been untangling her legs from the ropes to scoff dramatically.

“EVEN THE INSINUATION THAT I WOULD EVER LEAVE MY ZIZI ALONE IN A PLACE LIKE THIS IS UNTHINKABLE WE WILL BE STICKING TOGETHER THANK YOU VERY MUCH THOUGH YOU ARE WELCOME TO GET LOST ON YOUR OWN IF YOU SO DESIRE” 

Tyzias sighs and moves to placate her matesprit. “hey. immmm not goin anywwwwhere. and i dont think he mmmmeant anything rude by it.” She turns back to you, no longer a scowl on her face so much as a tired grimace that seems to be just short of her natural state of being. “Wwwwe all just need to stay calmmmm and get through this shit. together.”


End file.
